Uni retains Working Title

Seven-year deal for Bevan, Fellner

Working Title Films co-chairmen Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have pledged allegiance to the Universal Pictures flag for another seven years, studio co-chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde said during the weekend.

Shmuger and Linde described the veteran producing team as "one of our most valued producing partners and a unique voice in filmmaking throughout the world."

With their contract set to expire at the end of the year, the industry on both sides of the Atlantic had begun to speculate whether the duo would decide to take their talents — and their relationships — to another studio.

"They did what all smart producers on the lot do: They sniffed around to see what else might be out there before talking to Universal," according to one U.K. executive.

While Universal technically owns Working Title Films, Bevan and Fellner are widely recognized as being Working Title Films. Without them, several key talents might have walked from Universal because the label was founded on relationships with such filmmakers as Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Grant, Stephen Frears, Richard Curtis and, more recently, Joe Wright.

Bevan and Fellner completed the new deal with Universal on Friday morning, then flew back to London after attending the American Film Institute's awards luncheon that day honoring the 10 best films of 2006, which included their production of "United 93."

Bevan and Fellner had enjoyed a close working relationship with former Universal Pictures chairman Stacey Snider. Universal Studios president Ron Meyer considered an ongoing deal with Working Title so important that after Snider departed, he flew to London to discuss his plans for replacing her with the two producers, studio sources said.

According to industry insiders, Bevan and Fellner were wooed by DreamWorks, where Snider is co-chairman, and Sony Pictures. But Universal, which had a rocky 2006 at the boxoffice, made it worth their while to stay.

"We're being incredibly supportive," Linde said. "They've done well for our company; they deserve to be taken care of."

As the new Universal International launches in 2007, Working Title is a key factor in its future international distribution plans, Shmuger and Linde said, because they not only produce big-budget global pictures, but also local films for the British market, such as "Billy Elliot" and "Shaun of the Dead," which sometimes break out.

"It's like making three deals in one," Linde said. "They are our perfect global partners as we're more aggressively getting into the global business."

Shmuger and Linde expect Bevan and Fellner to continue to supply four to five international pictures a year. Keeping the duo "was a crucial focus and priority for us, because they fill a role in the global production picture that no other company does," Shmuger said, "in terms of the international flavor of their projects and their relationship with so many creative artists."

Working Title had so many projects in development and production at Universal, which bought Working Title and its library in 1999, that they opted to stay, studio sources said.

Among the projects in development are "The Queen" writer Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon," which Working Title is co-producing with Imagine Entertainment, and Joel and Ethan Coen's CIA thriller "Burn After Reading," starring George Clooney, for Universal's specialty arm, Focus Features.